Browns GM Ray Farmer on Johnny Manziel: We’re excited about how he wants to be great

May 20, 2014

For all the hoopla surrounding the Cleveland Browns’ selection of Johnny Manziel with the 22nd overall pick at the NFL Draft, it all means very little if the results aren’t there on the field. As the Browns organization is already trying to temper expectations (and the media circus) by announcing Manziel as the backup quarterback, the new class of Browns, including Johnny Football, got to work this past weekend at rookie mini-camps.

One thing I can say about Johnny is that every situation for where we’re at, he’s handled in a way where we’re excited about how he wants to be great. He’s attacking practice. He’s attacking the meetings […] Our roster is built on competition. It’s built on putting guys in the position where they can excel. But individually it comes down to the player demonstrating those components by themselves, and I think that’s what you want, that’s what we like, and we believe ultimately that’s what we got when we selected Johnny, a player that’s really dedicated to being great, and not just good.

Despite Manziel’s designation as backup quarterback, Farmer did say his ascendance to the starting job is a possibility based on performance.

“We can decide on captains, but inevitably the leader of the pack is selected by the pack […] we don’t get to decide that.” Farmer said. “The players gotta go demonstrate what they’re capable of and have demonstrated that they’ve garnished the respect of their teammates. And if [Manziel] goes out and performs well, he’ll get his opportunity. The good thing for us is that we have another young man in Brian Hoyer that we think is capable of captaining the ship as well, so it’s his opportunity to try to move forward and advance his career and as you drive competition, it only makes guys better.”

Separately, Pat Kirwan asked about the reports of a 16 game suspension for Browns star wide receiver Josh Gordon, but Farmer could not comment.

“There’s really not much that we can comment on about Josh,” Farmer said. “I know that there is a lot of intrigue and questions and the league will direct us and the rest of the world as to what that looks like when they make that determination.”